2022 Vuelta a España shows creativity trumps race performance for social media success

#SportOnSocial Vuelta a España – a Redtorch Report that ranks teams based on their social media performance during the tour – has revealed this year’s biggest winners and losers on social media. 

Here are 3 of the report’s key insights:

1. Creativity can trump team performance​​

The #SportOnSocial winner was Jumbo–Visma. While the team may not have performed so well on the road, creatively they nailed their social media channels. Another team to perform far better on social than on the road was Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux, which just goes to show that you don’t have to be the best-performing team to be successful on social media.

While Jumbo – Visma may not have performed so well on the road, creatively they nailed their social media channels

Chris Argyle-Robinson – Strategy Director, Redtorch

2. The Vuelta punches above its weight on social media ​​

Vuelta a España generated significantly more proportionate fan engagement across social – 211% more video views and 37% greater engagements – than the Tour de France (TDF), despite having a 5.5x smaller fan base. If the Vuelta can now scale this audience, there is an opportunity to generate significantly increased engagement and commercial value.

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3. Search interest is static ​​​

Interest remains the same as it was for the 2021 edition of the Vuelta a España. However, while Europe, Central America and Oceania saw a slight increase in search interest, there was a significant drop in South and North America. This was partly the result of USA’s Sepp Kuss and Canada’s Michael Woods dropping out of the race early on, leaving only two North American riders in the peloton. Teams must feature more riders from these underserved continents if the Vuelta is to grow globally.

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